what can i expect from the 6 month growth spurt?

[onesteptotheleftofme]

My boy is combi fed. Bf 4 times in the day, a bottle at 7 and then bf to sleep. Wakes twice in the night. Before 4 months I could never tell by feeding habits if he was in a growth spurt or not as he constantly fed, day and night.
Now the four month hell has ended we feel settled and I am dreading this 6 month growth spurt.

Is he likely to wake 1-2 hourly in the night? How long does the growth spurt last for? What do I need to look out for?

[tiktok]

There's no good evidence for growth spurts happening at any predictable time, either generally or in individual babies (though you will see mention of them frequently on mumsnet and elsewhere :) ). It's very common for babies to start to change their sleeping and settling habits and this does seem to happen around four months for many of them, but it's likely to be the result of normal behavioural and developmental changes, rather than growth. And they can happen at any time.

So worrying about a 6 mth growth spurt, let alone 'dreading it' is a waste of energy :)

Babies have appetite differences - peaks and troughs - throughout their babyhood (in fact it's a human thing that happens to all of us throughout life, but mostly we don't really notice).

There is no evidence that babies are more likely at 6 mths to wake 1-2 hourly in the night.

So maybe the best course of action is to chill and hope everything goes smoothly :)

[onesteptotheleftofme]

I like your ideas!

[Touchacat]

I agree with tiktok - no need to worry as babies are unpredictable (to a certain extent) and will do everything their own way.
But to answer your question, my dd woke around every three hours, occasionally more, occasionally less. I didnt know there was a 'scheduled' growth spurt at six months, it just seemed to be her pattern.

[onesteptotheleftofme]

Thanks. I expect I will see something but so long as this growth spurt isn't known for hourly feeds then I'll manage. Breastfeeding is hard and having some sort of guide for what's next helps me.